Bio:

Born to a loving family, Jonas was raised well. That said, his family had an unfortunate love of gambling, and by time Jonas was approaching 40 years old, they had accrued a rather substantial debt. In order to help pay it off, Jonas (and some years later his younger sister Merryn) were sent to do some simple labor to help bring in some money; Jonas as a merchant’s assistant, Merryn as a seamstress.

The merchant Jonas was sent to was a rather unsavory fellow. An older human, he treated Jonas well, but his business practices were less than steller – a storefront that performed completely within the laws, and a backside that sold illegal goods, dealt under the table, and lead illegal gambling rings, to name a few. Throughout the years, Jonas grew to resent this merchant, who was blinded by greed. As the merchant’s waist line grew, so did Jonas’ influence. As the merchant approached his final days, Jonas approached maturity.

The merchant’s son, a mixed blood human / elf, took over the shop once his ailing, overweight, corrupt father became too feeble to continue working. Less greedy (though not by much), the son has worked to purge the shop of its it’s underground ties – at least on the surface. Not only did the son continue the illegal activities (in no small part egged on by Jonas), he expanded the contraband trade to include forbidden areas outside of the town. But the son also was more cautious about it, using agents twice removed from the business to transport the goods and selling them in the city by proxy.

Jonas fell into his own niche during the transition. Having over 60 years of experience keeping numbers and inventory, he serves as the manager of the shop; ensuring the inventory they have matches what they should have, and keeping track of tabs and debts owned to the shop – both from legal trade and from the various illegal activities.

Jonas has also made a name for himself in the gambling rings (again, both legal and not – quite – so – legal). Known for wagering rather ridiculous amounts of money, Jonas is commonly targeted by people down on their luck, hoping to get some cash out of Jonas’ tight grip. They usually fail, generally because they have a poorly thought out plan, or because they have a surefire bet that Jonas subsequently refuses to take.

The shop employs two bodyguards, Surgish and Parch, Human brothers. Their ancestors accrued such a heavy debt with the merchant’s, that six generations later they are still attempting to pay it off through labor. It doesn’t help that they both, while loyal to the merchant, are less than savory and partake in various dubious activities – all of which cost them most of their wages and contribute to increasing their family’s debt. They like the merchant, who gives them a place to live and access to the aforementioned activities, and they tolerate the elf (Jonas) because he brings them with on excursions out of the city, and – more importantly – to debt collections, where the brothers are allowed to exert their cruel tendencies in a ‘productive’ way.